Biography

Russian Czar Nicholas II was the last of the Romanov dynasty that had ruled Russia for more than 300 years. He was charming and well-intentioned, but politically weak and unreliable. During his reign, Russia made economic progress, but failed to establish good relations with powerful neighbors.

Eldest of four children, Nicholas, first cousin of King George V of England, had a military education that attempted to prepare him for his future reign as czar. His father, Alexander III, was a large burly man who tried to ready his son for rule but died too early at age 47, before Nicholas was ready. Nicholas began keeping a daily diary at 14, uninterrupted until his death, leaving 50 notebooks in his neat handwriting filled with prose that sounded like poetry. Only 5' 6", shy and taciturn, a retiring man, Nicholas did not enjoy public life.

In November 1894 Nicholas's father died, the funeral was held and Nicholas and Alexandra were married a few days later. Not ready to take on the mantle of royalty, on his coronation date of 20 October 1894 Nicholas had over 50 titles and ruled one sixth of the world. A religious man, born on St. Job's Day, he always felt his suffering was meant to be and stayed true to his duties. An intelligent man, but not liking large meetings, he would talk to his ministers one at a time. Not wanting confrontations, he would agree with each in turn, then do as he chose.

Unlike most royals, after a confrontation with his father, Nicholas was allowed to choose his own bride, Alix of Hesse, a German princess, the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The couple loved one another and their children dearly. They had five children, Olga on 16 November 1895, Tatiana, 11 June 1897, Marie 27 June 1899, Anastasia 18 June 1901 and Alexei 12 August 1904. Their only son and the heir to the throne was born with hemophilia, a trait inherited from his mother.

Upon becoming czar, Nicholas followed his father's wishes and continued building the 6,000 mile Trans Siberian Railway, started in 1891 and rushed to completion for the Russo-Japanese war. He was responsible for convening the International Peace Conference at the Hague in 1898 and founding the Hague Tribunal in 1899. The Russo-Japanese war began 8 February 1904 and was a humiliating disaster as Nicholas didn't believe the Japanese would fight. They did, and he lost all hope of ruling China. On 22 January 1905, Bloody Sunday, 120,000 workers marched peacefully to the czar's palace to protest living and working conditions. Nicholas was spirited off by guards and the soldiers opened fire on the populace, killing men, women and children. Historians give a conservative estimate that 92 people were killed and several hundred were injured. This was in part a reason for his nickname, "the Bloody Czar," as well as the establishment of the Duma, Russia's representative assemblies, on 3 March 1905, and the introduction of moderate reforms with Peter Stolypin as premier.

Joining the Allies in 1915, the Russians fought the Germans in World War I. Several military disasters and the collapse of the domestic economy led to the Russian Revolution and Nicholas abdicated 15 March 1917. The family was kept in isolation until 17 July 1918 in Ekaterinburg, Siberia when at 2:30 AM they were taken to a basement with some servants and shot by the Bolsheviks on the orders of Lenin. Their bodies were supposed to go into a mine shaft, but the truck carrying them broke down and the bodies were put into a makeshift grave.

A holy canonization recognizing the martyrdom of the family took place in New York on 1 November 1981 at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Mother of God of the Sign. The gravesite was found in 1979 and kept secret until 1989. In 1991 the bodies were exhumed revealing only four male and five female bodies. After exhaustive testing by U.S., English and Russian DNA experts it was agreed in 1995 that these were the Romanov's bodies. Anastasia and Alexie were missing. At the urging of the Orthodox Church and many others, on the 80th anniversary of their executions, 17 July 1998, the remains of the last Czar and his family were laid to rest in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. a sad closing to Russia's bloody revolution.

Source Notes

Patrice Petitallot in Cadran No.11 9/1994 states, "Born May 7/19, 1868, at midnight (21:58 UT on May 6/18), St-Petersbourg [Leningrad], 59N55, 30E25, and not 12 noon on May 6/18 according to a previous erroneous version, oftentimes repeated - lately by Linguaggio Astrale #2/1994, page 160. The midnight hour had been confirmed by Henri Troyat to our friend François Villée who had contacted him: ‘’I followed Princess Catherine de Radziwill’s indications in her book on Nicholas II, published in French, that stated that the birth of the tsar occured on May 6 (18), around midnight and that the batteries announcing the event where fired around 2 AM in the morning. So when the cannons saluted the news, it was on the early hours of May 7th (19)."

(Formerly LMR quoted W. Bruce Lincoln, "The Romanovs," Dial Press, NY, 1981, p.603 in which the date of birth is given as May 6, 1868, but no time can be found anywhere. Radziwill's book not available locally)

S.C. wrote to Sy Scholfield in May 2015: "Radziwill's book was re-checked. Page 16 reports the birth on May 7/19 at 'half an hour after the stroke of midnight'. Page 17 states a gun salute announcing the birth at 'about two o'clock in the morning' (May 7/19)... upon research it was discovered Radziwill (suspected pen name "Paul Vasili") is not viewed among Romanov enthusiasts as reliable."

S.C. adds: "Alexander Bockanov's 'The Romanovs: Love, Power & Tragedy', page 18, has father Tsar Alexander III's diary recording of the birth on May 6/18 at 'half past two' without mention of AM/PM. It should be noted the book's relay of 'half past two' seems to be from a latter portion of a larger body of writing which has been left out. More writing (if there is) may indicate AM/PM. Nicholas himself in diary on May 6, 1898 wrote 'I am 30 years old!' and again on May 6, 1911 wrote 'I was 43 that day'."

On 11 May 2015, Scholfield changed the date of the entry from 7 May [OS] to 6 May [OS], and changed the time from 12:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., considering first that Radziwill's biography gives no source and its reliability is questionable. Second, Bockanov quotes father's diary for 6th and Nicholas himself states that date as his birthday. Third, in further support of the 6th [i.e. the 18th in New Style which was a Monday] Scholfield quotes from a news report at the time of his birth, "RUSSIA," Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1868, p. 5: "St. Petersburg, Monday. The Grand Duchess Marie Feodorowna (nee Princess Dagmar) gave birth to a Prince to-day. The name of the young Prince is to be Nicholas."

Fourth, Scholfield notes that the father's diary is also quoted for 2:30 (AM or PM not specified) in "King, Kaiser, Tsar" by Catrine Clay (Hachette UK, 2015): "Nicholai Alexandrovitch Romanov, the future Tsar Nicholas II and last of the three royal cousins, was born on 18 May 1868 ... His father Sascha was present at the birth and recorded in his diary: 'The pangs were stronger and stronger, and Minnie suffered a lot... At last, at half past two, came the last minute and all the suffering stopped at once God sent us a son whom we gave the name Nikolai." Fifth, the mother's diary is quoted in "Kejserinde Dagmar Maria Fjodorovna: en udstilling om den danske prinsesse som blev kejserinde af Rusland" by O. Villumsen Krog (Christiansborg Slot, 1997), p. 118: "In her diary she related how the boy who was to become Russia's last emperor came into this world: '(May 6/18). I woke up at four o'clock with a bad stomach ache, ... I stood it until half past seven, ... Finally I had to go into the bedroom ... And finally it was over and a little child’s cry announced the birth of our little angelic son at half past two.'" Scholfield notes that she states that labour began and the birth later occurred all on 6/18 May so the birth was therefore at 2:30 in the afternoon.

In November 2016 Amir Bey sent an email with the same quote from the father's diary that was recorded in Alexander Bockanov's book and Catrine Clay's 2015 biography but as republished in "The Romanovs: 1613-1918" by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Hachette UK, 2016), adding that "it might be worth checking out his source for that quote, 'Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Ferodovna 1847-1928,' by Coryne Hall, pages 53-57." Bey further added, "The 2:30 time could have been morning. What is not specified in any account is whether that time was AM or PM. Russian birth data (for the masses anyway) are not as reliable as other countries, like France for instance."

On 24 November 2016, Scholfield was unable to search the Coryne Hall biography on Google Books for more info, but he did review the source notes: In her diary, Nicholas's mother ostensibly states that labour began at 4 o'clock and that the birth occurred at 2:30 on the same date of 6/18 May so that would mean 4AM for the start of labour and 2:30PM for the birth. However, she could possibly mean that the labour started at 4PM the previous day (although apparently she does not specifically state this) and that the birth occurred at 2:30 (which could be AM or PM) on the 6/18th. Because of this discrepancy charts for both 2:30AM and 2:30PM on the 6/18th have been displayed with this entry and the rodden Rating changed to DD.